The present invention generally relates to block acknowledgment protocols in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless network, and more particularly to the reduction of overhead and channel bandwidth consumed by block acknowledgment signaling.
The demand for increased bandwidth in wireless networks has been relentless the past several years and shows no signs of abating. Fortunately, Airgo Networks, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif. has been developing products for wireless networks that meet these demands. In fact, these products have reached an important threshold. Multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) networks developed by Airgo Networks are the first to achieve the 100 Mbit data rates needed for streaming video for home entertainment and other high data-rate applications. To achieve this incredible data rate, significant improvements over conventional circuits and techniques have been developed.
As an example, in conventional networks, after data is transmitted from a first station to a second station, the second station responds with an acknowledgement frame indicating that the data transmission was properly executed. To simplify matters, the required overhead may be reduced by using block acknowledgments. In this case, a first station transmits several frames of data to a second station. The first station then requests an acknowledgment from the second station by sending a block acknowledgment request. The second station then replies by sending a block acknowledgment. Though these block acknowledgments improve matters, further enhancements are possible.
In a network, different types of data are identified by a different traffic identification (TID). The acknowledgement of the reception of frames having different TIDs consumes a considerable amount of channel bandwidth. Unfortunately, any channel bandwidth used for acknowledgment signaling is bandwidth that is not otherwise available for data transmission.
Thus, what is needed are circuits, methods, and apparatus that reduce the overhead and channel bandwidth required for block requests and acknowledgments.